DEAD IN DUBLIN

A limo driver snoops her way through Dublin’s fair city for answers to her friend’s death.

Megan Malone, a driver for Leprechaun Limos, is horrified when food critic Elizabeth Darr falls dead at the feet of the bronze statue of Molly Malone, famous fishmonger and tragic heroine of a beloved Irish song. Liz and her husband, Simon, had just come from the restaurant where Megan had delivered them. But as a former combat medic, an expatriate from Austin, Texas, and a friend of the Darrs, she’s not one to stand helplessly by and wring her hands. At least she can help Fionnuala Canan, the restaurant owner, who’s devastated not only that a patron died after eating there, but also that the place will have to be closed during the investigation and, incidentally, that Liz might have been a victim of food poisoning from her meal. If the restaurant closes, it could also take down Fionnuala’s business partner, Martin Rafferty, and his associated nightclub, which is also off limits during the investigation. What with propping up Fionnuala, trying to comfort Simon (and Liz’s parents too), and looking after a homeless dog and her newborn puppies, Megan has her hands full, especially as the mysteries start piling up. Was Liz having an affair with a younger woman? Who’s sending out video blogs of Liz after her death? Is Simon quite the devoted husband he seems? What was his connection to Martin Rafferty? And who—wait a minute—has killed Martin? Although Megan tries to cooperate with Detective Paul Bourke, she has the amateur sleuth’s tendency to work independently and a little outside of the law, like someone who’d look through the files of a USB drive found in Megan’s limo before turning them over to Bourke and maybe perform a little breaking and entering. Although neither Megan nor the reader finds quite all the answers, her irrepressible debut provides a lively entry in the Dublin Driver Mysteries.

A bad review can kill a restaurant—but what if a restaurant kills a reviewer?